Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brett Padgett today announced the appointment of Emily Desiderio as Associate Vice President and Treasurer, effective October 1, 2026. Desiderio will lead the University’s treasury operations, including management of its long-term debt portfolio, cash management and short-term investing, the Bursar’s Office, and administration of the University’s outsourced chief investment officer relationship. She will report to the Senior Associate Vice President for Finance within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
“Emily brings the treasury expertise, debt and cash management experience, and executive financial leadership Syracuse needs as we continue to strengthen our long-term financial position,” said Padgett. “She will be a trusted strategic partner to our senior leadership team and Board of Trustees, and I am confident she will bring disciplined financial stewardship to the University.”
Desiderio joins Syracuse University from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where she served as Deputy Chief Financial Officer, partnering with the county’s CFO to manage all fiscal affairs for a jurisdiction with an annual operating budget of $2.6 billion. In that role, she oversaw the county’s treasury portfolio and developed a financial model that enabled reliable forecasting of debt issuance and rate-setting needs for major county service lines.
Earlier in her career, Desiderio spent more than five years with the City of Durham, North Carolina, rising to Interim Finance Director after serving as Deputy Finance Director and Treasury Manager, where she oversaw the city’s treasury, revenue, and collections divisions and supervised all city debt issuance. Before that, she spent a decade at Bank of New York Mellon in Syracuse, advancing to Vice President and helping capture $50 billion in new institutional business.
“I am honored to return to Syracuse and to join a University community I know well from my time earning my MBA here,” said Desiderio. “I look forward to working with colleagues across the University to strengthen our treasury operations and support Syracuse’s long-term financial sustainability.”
Desiderio holds a Master of Business Administration from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in Business Administration from LeMoyne College.